Later in the day, Allison invites me to go visit where they’re getting married. Of course I’m thinking it’s going to be a church or meeting hall or some such. No, she says, we’re getting married on the beach. At a State Park, named the Kekaha Kai State Park. Oh, cool, sure, I’d love to come. They wanted to do some sunbathing and some swimming and since I knew from experience how ghastly Hawaiian beaches can be on leeward side (the side that gets less wind then the windward side), causing high concentrations of sea salt in the water, and then the fact that there’s so much volcanic rock on, in, near the beaches, I didn’t bother to get my swim suit. I’d forgotten it anyway. Didn’t plan on buying one either.
So we three drive on over to the park, which is really an old yacht club that was built next to an ancient Hawaiian ruins. When the natives finally got some respect, they were able to make it a SP and stop development that would have spelled the end of the ruins.
Allison and Leo heading for the beach.
As you can see from the clothes, we’re dressed for great weather. As we walked the trail to the beach, you could see these ancient walls the Hawaiians had built hundreds of years ago. There was a museum up one of the trails but I never made it up there. Anywho, a couple hundred feet from the beach were these ancient buildings. Most of them had fallen to ruin but it was interesting none the less.
Pitching the blankets…
So we get to the beach, they spread out their blankets, set up the umbrella (and yeah, ya kinda needed an umbrella), and then headed off to the ocean for a little swim. While they were gone, a uniformed native SP guy came driving by on his 4-wheeler and told me that umbrellas were not allowed on the beach. What? Really? Why? He mumbles something that doesn’t make much sense…that it would detract from the somberness of the site or some such. The people that populated this site had been gone for a couple hundred years so…
Off to play in the water.
As you can see the beach is more gravel then sand. And there are volcanic rocks sticking out all over. Typical Hawaiian beach. See why I don’t swim there much? Funny story, years ago, when I was in the Navy and we stopped at Honolulu for a week or two, I went into town to Waikiki beach and joined a party on the beach in front of one of the big hotels. Around midnight, as the party was winding down, this group of trucks pulled out onto the beach and dumped huge loads of sand. Then they shoo’ed us away as a grader spread it out. That night, I slept under a palm tree in a park right on the beach. Next day, I tried to swim. Sand until you waded out to your ankles then it changed to rocks. At around your knees, it changed to boulders, and the sharp, volcano type; get up to your waist and it turned to spiky corral. When you finally started to swim, and got a taste of the water in your mouth, yikes, it’s soooo salty. Gag worthy.
So that’s why I’m not all that interested in swimming in Hawaii. I understand that the windward side is better, but I’ve never bothered to try there. Who want’s to get all scraped up by rocks?
See, rocks.
After they had their swim, had to explain why I took down the umbrella. Told them they’d be arrested and have to spend the night in adjoining cells if they put it up again. ‘Cus I wasn’t going to bail them out. So, as they tried to figure out if I was lying or not, I took a stroll over to the ruins. See those rocks out in the water in the above picture? The ancients built fish traps there out of the rocks and did some spear and net fishing by herding them inside the traps. Then they figured out that they could permanently capture the fish and raise them in those rock ponds. Apparently, it worked very well. Pretty cool.
Ancient wall.
The ancient Hawaiians were Polynesian peoples and as such they had admirable attitudes about sex, but…they also practiced occasional human sacrifice, and if they had, for instance, a baby with a large birth mark somewhere, especially the face, they’d bury it up to it’s neck on a beach before high tide. And leave it there. Don’t be deluded by the admirable features of ancient peoples as there was a lot of bad to go with the good. In every ancient culture.
Ancient homes.
Standing here looking around the site, it really looks bucolic. Peaceful. Liveable even. There were up to 200 people living here before the Europeans came along and the evidence shows that they occupied the site here for several hundred years…quite successfully too.
The platform.
Then you walk up to this. It’s on the point and overlooks the fishing ponds. The Hawaiians had no written records but the locals consider this a sacred place. (Of course a lot of indigenous people say that about their ancient ancestors sites in order to perhaps keep them from being destroyed. They still have sentimental value even if they aren’t really ‘sacred’).
The work is good, not Inca good, but good.
Steps to Heaven?
I really wanted to walk up these steps for the view but there was a sign that says you can’t because the platform is ‘sacred’. And there was that SP cop nearby so, I didn’t risk it. He looked mean.
Platform side wall.
View from in front of the platform.
So after their swim, and some sunbathing, and my wandering around to view the site, we walked over to the yacht club. On the way, we spied a fishing boat making it’s way through the treacherous inlet. Leo knew that the flag they flew meant they had caught a big fish so we wandered over as they were docking. Talked to them a bit about the fishing today, and they pulled out their catch.
The boat we watched heading into the harbor.
It wasn’t much to look at, but I guess it’s highly favored as a sport fish and as food.
Carving it up.
It’s one of them pointy nosed fish. He’s peeling off the skin. Guess it’s really tough skin. Great for boots if it had been bigger. But he had a plan for the skin too so I guess it won’t go to waste.
Then we went over to the yacht club’s restaurant & bar, had a nice snack and headed home.
A few hours later and the whole fam damly assembled at the Kona Brewing Company pub. They had a large table all set up for us. We had some great brews, lively conversation and a great dinner. When it was time to leave, FIL paid for everyone. I offered to pay my share the next day, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
Allison with her FIL to be.
The happy couple.
And then we all went home. Them to their condos, me to my hotel. I did a toast before we left. It was getting late and no one had given a toast. I was surprised. So I jumped in. I was shortly followed by the FIL to be. Hopefully my toast wasn’t too lame. But let’s face it, they aren’t going to remember the toast at all in a few months.
More in a couple days.